Vintage Eyes
by Kari
Summary: Anakin's thoughts on the events leading up to his fall from grace . . .


Vintage Eyes 

By Kari Raines @ TrekGirl2000@netscape.net 

Disclaimer: All things Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. I'm just borrowing them for a little fun. No money being made, so no reason to sue, right? The song "Vintage Eyes" belongs to Second Coming, off the self-titled CD. 

Author's note: The story is a little darker than most of mine. I gave it a 'PG-13' rating for language and vivid descriptions of disturbing scenes. I might have given it an 'R' rating, but I wasn't sure if that would've been appropriate. Either way, you've been warned. ;-) 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Tired clothes and vintage eyes 

Search for the stars 

The world you know lies inside 

Your velvet dreams and a candy prize 

* 

As a child I saw the world 

In a million colors 

Kaleidoscope 

* 

In every dream mother moon was full 

Enraptured eyes would watch the changing world 

* 

Against a wall of a million words 

I fight to shout right back 

Trying to be heard 

* 

Take my ashes but leave my soul 

Take me higher 

Where truth is gold 

* 

My childhood, diluted 

My innocence polluted 

* 

I should know better 

I heard the warning 

I should know better 

When the walls are forming 

* 

So here I am inside the man 

Take your hand help me understand 

* 

As a child I saw the world 

In a million colors 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

He knelt alone in a pool of metallic darkness, the tears of crimson blood drying on his paled cheeks. Around him, he could hear other sounds--other people. The voices--all in his head--were deafening to his sore and bruised mind. Gathering all the discipline he could muster, he drowned out those sounds, desperately seeking the quiet that seemed more appropriate to the blackness that surrounded him. 

He had lost count of the amount of time he had been in this position. Hours, at the least. His knees were bruised and bloodied from the hard coldness of the floor. 

But he didn't really notice. This was what his Master had ordered him to do--to kneel in the darkness till his mind was quiet and calm. Only then could he be of any use to his Master. 

Over the last few hours, he had let has mind feed off his hate, and Anakin Skywalker could feel himself grow stronger with his hatred. His mind replayed the events of the last few months. He remembered his trip to Tatooine to free his mother and the other slaves, the way he had promised. He had brought a fleet with him, marching in boldly to find-- 

To find his mother's dead corpse, her lifeless eyes staring up and through him, accusingly. There was a look of sorrow and grief etched permanently into her features--a look that demanded vengeance. Her arms and legs had been twisted at an unnatural angle, her flesh torn and bruised. Her body had been left mangled and beaten in the heat of the desert suns, food for flies and knats and all other hideous forms of lowlife. She had not even been given a proper burial. 

That was the day Anakin Skywalker had truly lost it. He had become insane that day. He had demanded vengeance, but Obi-Wan had talked him into a formal investigation, where they discovered that Watto, Shmi Skywalker's previous owner, had sold her to a Hutt, but no one was able to figure out which Hutt it had been, exactly. 

Anakin had taken the matter to the Jedi Council, but they had been too preoccupied with the war, and could not spare anyone to go investigate the situation on Tatooine. Anakin had become angry, accusing the Jedi of doing nothing to invoke anti-slavery laws, and he outright accused them of being the cause of her death. 

He had stormed out of the Jedi Temple that day, and traveled to Naboo to see his wife. Anakin had immediately noticed the change in Padme. She seemed distracted, and unable to comfort him, or even talk to him. 

And then he noticed the way she and Obi-Wan would look each other from across rooms. And he knew. When confronting them about it, they both had denied it profusely, saying he was delusional. But he could SEE it. 

Obi-Wan, his Master, best friend, and commanding officer was fucking his wife. He just KNEW it. One night, Anakin struck Padme. She had cried and screamed and pleaded, but he could see the lies in her eyes. He began to resent them. All of them. 

They had all betrayed him--the Jedi, his wife, his best friend. If only he had seen it sooner. 

Anakin closed his eyes, remembering the naïve child he had once been--when he thought Jedi were saints and Padme was an angel and the universe was his for the taking. 

Anakin looked up as he felt an unmistakable presence near--a dark, twisted presence that he recognized immediately as that of Palpatine, his new Master. Palpatine stood before him now, but Anakin dared not stand until ordered to. 

"Rise, Darth Vader." And slowly, Vader rose, dead blue eyes meeting those of his Master. 

Palpatine smiled coldly, white lips cracking grotesquely. "Soon, my young apprentice. You'll have your revenge." 

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Feedback wanted, but play fair, okay? ;-) 


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